cohabit, v.
(kəʊˈhæbɪt)
[a. F. cohabiter, ad. late L. cohabitāre to dwell together, f. co- together + habitāre to dwell; see habit.]
1. intr. To dwell or live together (with). arch.
| 1601 F. Godwin Bps. of Eng. 201 A certaine number of schollers to cohabite with the Cannons. 1667 South Serm. Ps. lxxxvii. 2 They were not able to cohabit with that Holy Thing [the Ark]. 1726 De Foe Hist. Devil i. xi. (1840) 174 The wise and righteous generation that we cohabit with and among. 1809 Kendall Trav. I. vii. 63 All that..do cohabit within this jurisdiction. |
b. fig. of things.
| 1653 Walton Angler i. 33, I do easily believe that peace, and patience, and a calm content did cohabit in the cheerful heart of Sir Henry Wotton. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece i. 40 In Water the contrary Qualities of Gravity and Levity cohabit together. 1759 B. Martin Nat. Hist. Eng. I. 214 As if rural Sweetness, and external Elegance and Neatness cohabited there. |
2. To live together as husband and wife: often said distinctively of persons not legally married.
| c 1530 More in Fisher's Wks. ii. 51 He should..make it a matter of great conscience to cohabit with her, being not his lawfull wife. 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 78 The Church..may compel the husband to allow his wife alimony, if without sufficient cause he shall refuse to cohabit with her. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 149 ¶4 Ordinary Marriages, or rather Bargains to cohabit. 1827 J. Powell Devises II. 345 In case he should have any child or children by M. A. S. (a woman with whom he cohabited). |
† 3. trans. To inhabit together. Obs.
| 1722 Journey through Eng. I. 123 It is plain we are not quite in Heaven here..a Place cohabited by Innocence and Guilt, by Folly and Fraud from the Beginning. |